Category Archives: Game Intro

Football Manager 2007 released

Football Manager 2007 (FM 2007) stated for its release on 20th October, has brought forward by SIGames to 18th October. Source.

FM 2007, a popular sequel to the famous FM 2005 and 2006, released today on 18 October. Football management fans will definitely like this new sequel, with a lot of new features added. This game is currently released for XBox 360 and PC platform. I believe the PSP FM 2007 will be releasing in months to come. Below is a short summary of features added to this new version of FM.

  • Feeders Club: Enable larger club to team up with smaller clubs to develop players
  • Manager Background: When you first make your manager, you will be able to customise your manager with certain backgrounds, such as ex-professional footballer

Review at IGN: Rating = 9.3/10

Here is the boxart for FM 2007.

Look like Jose Mourinho?

FIFA 07 released

EA Sports has released the sequel of its famous sports game series, FIFA 07. This time, the game features more realistic player modelling, gameplay and emotions. This game is released across major platforms such as PC, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, PSP, GameCube, DS and GBA.

This game is released today, 3 October 2006, get yours now!
Below is the key features listed by EA.

  • SOCCER EMOTION: The crowds react to your performance. Goals and possession result in rousing chanting as momentum builds for your team but dips to a frustrated murmur if you’re struggling. The camera focuses on those players who wear their emotions on their sleeve.
  • EA SPORTS™ Interactive Leagues: Represent your club online against your rivals throughout the season in the F.A. Premier League, Bundesliga, French League or Mexican 1st Division. When they play, you play. Win and drive your club closer to glory. Lose and see your team plummet to the bottom of the table. Weekly podcasts include user interviews that broadcast your glory to the world.
  • IMPROVED GAMEPLAY: Passing and positioning have all been enhanced. Players jostle and collide realistically while trying to win balls. New ball physics accurately recreate bouncing, skidding and topspin. Signature moves and playing styles for the stars have been authentically captured.
  • SET PLAYS: Use the left analog stick to apply topspin or backspin to the ball for more creative set plays and finesse shots.
  • NEW SHOOTING MECHANICS: Experience a more sophisticated shooting mechanic that gives you greater control for pin-point accuracy.
  • ADVANCED GOALKEEPER AI: Goalkeeper intelligence is authentic, with true-to-life reactions and a greater variety of deflections and saves.
  • ENHANCED MANAGER MODE: Everything is real. Real money, youth player development, press and fan reaction. Immerse yourself completely in the world of a soccer manager. New this year – create your own club.
  • SOCIAL GAMING: Play against up to eight friends in the FIFA 07 LOUNGE to determine your champion. A new handicap system levels the playing field in the ultimate pursuit of bragging rights.
  • COMPLETE AUTHENTICITY: FIFA Soccer 07 features 27 leagues from 20 nations. Over 510 teams are accurately represented with correct kits and badges.
  • ONLINE EVERYWHERE: Never again miss any news with the ultimate sports ticker. While online, breaking news, live scores and results are delivered straight to your screen, 24/7.

Here is the intro video at the start of the game.

Alternatives to games: Online Web-based games

Sometimes it is good to get out of those graphics-intensive games such as F.E.A.R and Prey, or those action-packed games that keeps your nerves active at all times, such as Need For Speed: Most Wanted. Also if you are tired of “walking” or “flying around” in World of Warcraft or Guild Wars, or even feel frustrated when unable to complete a quest in RPG games, it’s time to rest or take a step back so that you can find yourself back in the reality as the person your friends and family know of.

A much more relaxing way to play games is to play online web-based games, which does not requires your constant attention for hours in a day. Sometimes you really do not need to even log on to check. Below is some of the online web-based games that gathered my attention recently due to its short time commitment daily. On top of all the good points above, you can play these games any where wherever you are, you just need an Internet access.

Sports game (Alternatives to Football Manager or Championship Manager):

  1. Hattrick *
  2. Fantasy Premier League
  3. Yahoo! Fantasy Sports
  4. Fantasy Football (Currently unavailable)

MMORPGs

  1. Kings Of Chaos *
  2. Utopia
  3. Earth 2025

Car tuning

  1. Kingtuner (currently down)

Use your brain to think

  1. the wicked
  2. Sudoku

Currently these are the games that I heard of. If you have any web-based games to recommend, please kindly submit them via the comments.

The games with an asterisks beside them are the games that I’m currently engaging in. If you do play these games, you can comment too.

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic Demo

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic place players in a first person prespective in a Might and Magic style. The game graphics engine is powered by Source Engine, which powered Half-Life 2 too. You will be able to play online with up to 32 players.

This demo covers a tutorial and a single level mission from the game. The demo weighs a hefty 1.38 GB

The system requirements are as follow:
Minimum:

  • 2.2 Ghz CPU (AMD Athlon or Intel Pentium)
  • 512 MB RAM
  • 7 GB Hard Disk Space
  • 128 MB Video Card

Recommended:

  • 3 Ghz CPU (AMD Athlon or Intel Pentium)
  • 1 GB RAM
  • 7 GB Hard Disk Space
  • 256 MB DirectX 9-capable Video Card

The following mirrors allow you to download this demo.

DotA Allstars

The world of LAN gamers and BNeters are revolving around a single map mod for Warcraft III : Frozen Throne, that is the DotA Allstars, currently at version 6.34. Official Site. Well, here is a brief introduction to the game.

DotA stands for Defense of the Ancients. Basically you just have to destroy your opponent’s Ancients, located at top-right corner and bottom-left corner of the map, while defending yours. The heroes that the team players choose, the items that they bought, can make a huge difference in the gameplay, therefore each team need to devise the best strategy in order to win the game.

There are 2 teams to choose from, Sentinels and Scourge. Each teams have about 38 heroes to choose from. Heroes have skills and stats, heroes can be levelled up from 1 to 25 via gaining experience from killing a creep or a hero from the area near you. Each creeps are worth certain amount of gold which allows you to save up and buy items, heroes are worth more than creeps.

Each heroes have 3 attributes, with one as the main attribute that defines the type of hero he/she is, i.e Intelligence (Spell-casting heroes, high Mana), Agility (Fast attack and high armour), Strength (High Hit-points and attack).

There are many items to choose from, and there are many items that can be forged with lower-tier items with the recipes. For more information, please refer to the Offical Site’s item page.

You can download this game mod map from here too, via filefront. Thiis is the link the download the AI (Aritifical Intelligence) map, which is can play with the computer players while you are offline. Click here to download the AI map.

Final Fantasy XIII

The new upcoming Final Fantasy sequel, looks damn cool. It will be released for the soon-to-be-arriving Sony PlayStation 3. There are rumours that PS3 will be released at the end of this year. So get hold of your money now, if you are a great fan for PlayStation.

I haven’t been playing Final Fantasy games ever since FFVIII, because I do not own a PS2, so I couldn’t play FFIX or FFX. This FFXIII looks very futuristic, character design is similar to FFVII, FFVIII, FFX (in my opinion).

FFXIII will be released with 3 versions, FFXIII and FF Versus XIII (for PS3) and FF Agito XIII for cell phones. Looks like game developers are trying to tap into the mobile gaming market. Mobile phones nowadays are more powerful than those Pentium I or II already.

What is more cool about Square Enix, is the tech demo they released for Final Fantasy VII, the demo for PS3 is simiar to the Final Fantasy VII : Advent Children. Imagine you playing the game with these graphics, WOW! There are rumours that they are remaking FFVII for PS3… Hope so.